Major head story

[JimL]

Marky if your bored reading, stop.

Sorry bout your bad luck Whitespider Ronnie but its worth noting for prospective surf buyers that he joined in Jan 2004 - when his head went. Maybe if his head hadnt gone just like 80% of all 2.4s then he wouldnt have found this website. Theres a lot of people out there getting flashed by members on this forum who havent a clue about this place coz they never had cause to look for help. Just imagine 4 times the amount of bad luck posts and read them all. I bought an 11 yr old surf for £1,900 and have since spent the same again on it and have no-one to blame but myself but the thing is I'll be spending another £1,900 on it yet and 'I'm lovin it'.

[warost]

Jimmus, seek advice from the citizens advice, anyone calling themself a dealer these days is answerable to the governing laws, I think you will be surprised at the laws that the motor trade has to adhere too, and next time £30 on an AA inspection would be a good idea, even so 3.5K is not throw away doe so sort the pikey dealer or he will keep selling kak and ripping those who can least afford it.

I have a 2.4 92 Surf, had it a year no probs at all, i have given the ol girl some stick to, 24 hour round trip to Glasgow from Kent, many long runs pulling weight and no complaints from the Surf, more from the missus.......

I have had brand new cars that have been back to the garage more times than I care to remember, the Surf is a tough thing and the 2.4 is a strong engine but some are unfortunate enough to have a design fault in the head, lets not get down on them all to much as they dont deserve it.

Anyway, my ticks in the excelant box for my Surf.

Finally in all disputes with traders like I have read in this thread get legal advice, most of the time these people try to sound as convincing as possible so you go away and pay more money, dont buy it, amazing what a letter from a solicitor can do, dont be fobbed off.

good luck all

Stu

[Jimmus]

cheers for the advice stu,it just might come to that.
and just to top it all i go i take it to a garage today,they tell me that the water pump is knackered,so may as well change all the belts at the same time..kerrchiiing £365.
now this is really the icing on the cake,this evening i drove it to canterbury (45 miles away) and took it real easy at 55mph all the way.gets there fine.start it up to come home again and smoke bellows out the back on start up and now there is a scary knocking noise coming from the top end..not tappits,this sounds like cam knocking.so i had no choise but to drive it home.it got me here and now i dont wanna drive it no more..gonna get onto the geezer tomorrow morning and see what he's gonna do about it.i was prepared to service the thing but thats all,i cant have a car making these noises,its worrying,its serious and i cannot rely on this car.to tell ya the truth im gutted cos i love driving it but cant afford to keep it,ive only had it 3 weeks. keep ya posted
jim

[metalmagpie]

Head Problems

This may be a red herring but Toyota Supras also tend to suffer from Head problems at around 100,000 miles. This, it has been suggested, is due to the head bolts loosening over time. The recommendation is to check and re-torque the head bolts in higher mileage vehicles. This problem caused some owners in the States to consider a Class action against Toyota (I don't know what transpired as I sold the Supra fo a bigger car and stopped worrying about loose and cracked heads).
Has Hilux owner any evidence of a similar problem in Hiluxes, the cracking would then follow overheating?

[emc2jkd1]

Warning to Surf users

Make sure you don’t have an air lock in your engine I used to top up the water in the cooling system about once a week. Then I started to notice that the bottle was full and did not appear to need topped up. Next thing the Fan belt went - I replaced the belts. I then drove for about a mile and the engine overheated - smoke out exhaust - oil and water also - the head gasket I’m told is away.

The Head gasket is away on my Toyota Hilux 2.4 Surf SSRX K Reg LN130 model. I need a price to repair it or replace the engine – whichever is cheaper. Based in Clydebank near Glasgow. Help! Email me back at emc2jkd1@lycos.co.uk.

[Bogus]

Youve tacked this on to a very old thread. You might have been better starting a new one. Never mind, You will be lucky in the extreme if its only the head gasket thats gone, its more than likely the head. If youre not doing the job yourself and if you dont have a garage/mechanic who you utterly trust I beleive your best bet is to get it done by Stevo ( engine company Stockport) Get it transported down and head replaced. It wont be cheap but a good chance it wil be cheaper than letting someone loose on it with a new head of dubious origin. This way its done once and its done right. Costs wil be in the region of £ 1200 ish. I know one guy who got his head replaced by a " trusted " mechanic and then had to take it elsewhere to get the job redone as they had not used new head bolts and had failed to torque it down correctly. You also need to ensure that you use the " upgraded" head designated the 3L. I hope you are lucky and that it is the gasket but I doubt it.

Bogus